Researchers have observed thebrains of die out patientsgoing down in a brilliance of neural glory , indicate that the last throe of life may be substantially more colorful than a mere fade to black . Despite their comatose state , some of the perishing participants displayed brain activity that is associated with cognizance during their last second , all of which may excuse the ethereal experiences often reported by heart attack survivors .
“ Near - death experiences(NDE ) report to be highly perspicuous , ' realer than existent ' , and common to the great unwashed from divers ethnic and religious backgrounds , have been described by 10 to 20 percent of cardiac halt survivors , ” write the cogitation writer . However , “ NDE represent a biologic paradox that challenges our rudimentary understanding of the drop dead brain , which is widely believed to be nonfunctioning under such status . ”
Despite this , previous studies on animal have shown that the sudden resultant of cardiac activeness activate a surge of brainwave activeness within the gamma frequency brand , which is associated with conscious processing . To settle whether the same occurs in humans , the study authors examined electroencephalography ( EEG ) readings taken from four cardiac arrest patients who lapse away in the neurointensive care building block ( NICU ) at Michigan Medicine , University of Michigan .
All four patients were comatose and unresponsive following their heart attacks and finally had their life support remove after they were deemed to be beyond medical help . As before long as the oxygen supplying was prune off , the researcher observe an step-up in fondness rate and a billow of Vasco da Gamma wave activity in two of the four patients .
astonishingly , this activity was notice within the part of the brain where the temporal , parietal and occipital lobe meet . Known as the “ hot zone ” , this brain region is strongly linked to witting activity and is activated during the even waking Department of State as well as during dreaming .
spicy zona activating has also been observed in unusual states of consciousness such as hallucination and out - of - organic structure experiences .
Despite these findings , the researchers ca n’t say for sure if any of the patients go out awhite lightor any other conscious phenomena , since none of them survive to report their experiences . “ We are unable to make coefficient of correlation of the observed neural signature tune of consciousness with a comparable experience in the same patients in this study , ” explained study author Nusha Mihaylova in astatement .
“ However , the observe findings are definitely exciting and supply a unexampled framework for our intellect of covert consciousness in the go humans . ”
The report has been print in theProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences .
